Recently Tony Blair professed bafflement at the rise — on both sides of the Atlantic — of popular movements by people who in Blair’s view choose to “rattle the cage”. I think this is a mischaracterisation. Those who have been energised into supporting Sanders, Corbyn and movements such as Podemos and Syriza want to break the cage, ending the failed policies that continue to dominate and distort so much of our national discourse. What these movements represent is a desire and hope for something better. I don’t think that is baffling at all. In two weeks the Budget will see another repeat of the regular farce of Chancellor George Osborne announcing old targets missed (again), new targets no-one expects to be met and earnings growth forecasts that will fail to materialise. There will be a series of promises in his speech that will make headlines and prove to be empty, claiming a “march of the makers,” that the economy will be rebalanced and there will be higher wages. The reality is that manufacturing output is significantly lower now than in 2008. Jobs are being sucked into London, where employment is nearly 12 per cent higher than it was in 2010. […]

This year’s Labour Party conference was truly a turning point in the anti-austerity movement, writes Steve Turner. That day when I introduced Jeremy Corbyn on stage at the huge People’s Assembly march in June he was greeted like a rock star- so while many of us were optimistic about how his leadership campaign would unfold over the Summer I am not sure many of us guessed how successful it would be. Securing an election mandate of nearly 60% is of course just the start. But on Monday conference listened to a Shadow Chancellor in John McDonnell who was putting forward the clear anti-austerity arguments and the alternative to what has been happening in this country. It is something that the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, the trade union movement and many, many others have been campaigning for and have laid the ground for. We have all been arguing for the deficit to be shrunk by dynamically growing our economy, not punishing people. Economic growth through investment that delivers for all our local communities, builds homes, provides good working standards, and action to tackle low pay and the gender pay gap – in short an economic policy that delivers for society. It […]

Jeremy’s agenda: mobilising members and winning voters Katy Clark, Co-Chair, Labour Assembly Against Austerity Jeremy Corbyn’s successful Labour leadership campaign over the summer has demonstrated clearly that a Labour leadership position of opposing austerity can be effective in both mobilising members and winning over voters. The party should prepare for a hard fight but be confident we can win in 2020. Jeremy’s campaign won through this summer with authenticity. With setting out his stall in voting against the Welfare Bill in July, it was his clear opposition to the Tories ideological spending cuts, reducing the income of lower and middle income families and pushing greater numbers into poverty, made supporting him a no-brainer for many. Jeremy has transformed British politics. The historic scale of his victory, winning over 250,000 first preference votes and almost 60% of those cast – is unprecedented, as were the size of the public rallies he held across the country, the list of which reads like a band on tour. He has electrified the party and wider movement with many towns and cities seeing their largest gatherings of activists for years and at each one he could be found chatting to audience members at the end […]